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One: Where is Jesus in the Old Testament?

Jesus said several times that the Old Testament was about him. In John 5:39-47 He states both that “the scriptures” (which in His day consisted solely of the Old Testament) “testify of me” and that Moses (who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament) “wrote of me.” Luke 24:25-27 records that after his resurrection he began “at Moses” and “expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” So where, specifically, does the Old Testament speak of Jesus? We never see his name there. Or do we? Who is Jehovah/Yehovah (spelled YHVH in Hebrew, written LORD in English), whose name appears over 6800 times in the Old Testament? We’ve always been taught that He is “the Father”, but could He really be Jesus? Yeshua is his real name in Hebrew, and means “salvation”. When you compare what the Old Testament says about Yehovah, and what the New Testament says about Yeshua you’ll see the same thing:Who was the creator? Genesis 1 tells us that it was “God”, and Genesis 3:1 clarifies that as “the LORD (YHVH) God.” John 1:3, speaking of Yeshua, says that “all things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” So Yehovah/Yeshua is the creator.Who did people see? John 1:18 and 6:46 both say that no man hath seen God the Father. John 5:37 adds we have never heard His voice. Was Yehovah the Father that no man has seen? No, because men did see Yehovah: Jacob in Genesis 32:30; Moses in Exodus 33:11, and the mixed multitude in Deuteronomy 5:4. His voice was heard giving the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. So Yehovah /Yeshua, were seen and heard, but the Father was not.Who led the Exodus? Exodus 3:2 tells about Moses’ encounter with “an angel of Yehovah” (who is identified as Yehovah in verse 4.) Stephen tells the Jews in Acts 7:38, speaking of Yeshua, that “this is he...which spoke to him (Moses) in the Mount Sinai”, that appeared to Moses in the bush (vs 30-31), and that showed “wonders and signs” in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness (vs 36). So who led the people in the wilderness after the Exodus? The Old Testament tells us it was Yehovah, and the New Testament tells us that it was Yeshua. So Yehovah/Yeshua led the Exodus.

Who is the first and the last, or the alpha and omega? Yehovah in Isaiah 44:6 and 48:12, Yeshua in Revelation 1:17-18 and 22:13. Who is the Saviour? Yehovah in Isaiah 43:11, Yeshua in Luke 2:11.Who is “I AM”? Yehovah in Exodus 3:14, Yeshua in John 8:58. Consider this quote from page 34 in the book Shocked by the Bible, by Joe Kovacs: The Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant. He had a relationship with Abraham and publicly identified Himself as the “I AM” of the Old Testament, the same one who spoke to Moses. Thus, they sought to stone Him for calling Himself God, the God of the Old Testament. It’s strange how the Jews who hated Jesus during His earthly ministry were able to understand this truth, and yet so many Christians today who say they “love the Lord” have no idea Jesus clearly identified Himself as the God of the Old Testament.

What this means is that Jesus is Jehovah of the Old Testament. When reading the Old Testament, every time you see “the LORD” or any other reference to the Creator/Saviour/First and Last, just substitute the name “Jesus” (or better yet, his real Hebrew name “Yeshua”). Yeshua wasn’t some new God that came to replace Yehovah. The Bible indicates that they are one and the same, and true worship will reflect that reality.